At last!

[altivo]

At last, an end to commercial horse slaughter in the United States may be on the visible horizon. In November, George W. Bush signed the 2006 Agriculture appropriations bill, which included an amendment forbidding use of any public funds to pay for USDA inspection of horse meat for human consumption. At first it was thought that this was a pointless gesture, since the slaughter houses would simply hire their own inspectors, but it appears that may not be possible. The structure of existing law and regulation seems not to permit them to pay for USDA inspectors themselves, nor to allow them to use privately managed inspectors.

While they will be able to continue to slaughter horses for use as animal food (zoos and some other keepers of large carnivores do offer a limited market,) most of the slaughterers' market has been overseas human consumption. They are facing a March 1, 2006 deadline that could completely stop this odious and inhumane practice.

Meanwhile, another bill currently in Congress has a growing chance of passage. This bill would place a permanent ban on the slaughter of equines for human consumption in the United States. If you feel strongly about this, now is the time to let your public representatives know about it. I will spare you the graphic photographs and gruesome stories about what really happens in slaughterhouses. Let me just say that I have seen it once, long ago, and still have nightmares about it. You can sign a reputable petition in support of this legislation here.

Or read more about the bill, S. 1915, on this ASPCA page. To my amazement, S. 1915 has joint sponsorship from both parties in the Senate, including extreme conservatives such as Trent Lott (R-MS) and liberals such as Carl Levin (D-MI). It has a serious chance of passage if we push now.

Comments

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

Mayhaps you should crosspost this to maregarden, erotic_equine and a few other relevant places.

[darkhorseman.livejournal.com]

I posted it in my journal and so far one person has posted it to 6 other friends from there... word spreads. But yes I would post it to maregarden, erotic equine and a few others

[altivo.livejournal.com]

OK, I will. Though I think maregarden is mostly read by Europeans and erotic_equine has some members who may be pretty hostile to a political post in there.

[darkhorseman.livejournal.com]

I posted it to positive zoo there is accually a heated debate going there. not over the post itself but weather its right or not. I say go ahead and put it in erotic equine.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. Of all places, I'd have thought everyone there would agree on this. So why am I not surprised?

[darkhorseman.livejournal.com]

Its boiled down to a preditor versus prey thing and just somthing to argue about from what I can tell. Im not even paying attention any more

[brokkentwolf.livejournal.com]

Whooo! :)

Now if they would pass a similar law for dog meat.... In the rest of the world. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

One small step at a time. I always like to point out that if someone proposed to open a dog slaughter house "To humanely eliminate excess, unwanted pets" and ship the meat to Korea and Vietnam, they would be shown the door in a hurry as someone went to procure the boiling oil, or the tar and feathers.

Yet Americans continue to tolerate or even believe the argument that slaughter houses are humane ways to "put down" unwanted horses. The argument is absurd, especially if you see how it is done. There is nothing humane about it. We suffer from the problem that most of the US population lives in cities now and never even comes near a horse, never sees one except in a parade or on television, and has no sense of the depth of emotion and intelligence that horses have. To them, a horse is the size of a cow, lives on farms, and is just another kind of farm animal.

The truth is, horses have been bred and selected for millennia to be servants to humans. They are among the most intelligent and reasoning of domestic animals, perhaps surpassed only by the dog and cat. They have long memories, can generalize from specifics the same way a dog can, and experience emotional bonds and grief as well as primitive fear. And like dogs and cats, no horse is bred or born with the intention that it will become food. It takes a series of bad misfortunes to push a horse down that path, and all responsibility falls on us, the humans. The horse can never be blamed.

Horses that go to slaughter have been pets, riding horses, race horses, and otherwise servants to humankind. But when someone doesn't want to care for them any more, it is more profitable to sell their flesh for a few dollars than to find them a new home or pay to have them humanely put down and buried. To me, this is the same as deciding that an elderly relative isn't worth keeping any more so you sell them, still living and breathing, to a fertilizer plant to be ground up for lawn food.

Sorry, I know I tend to get on a soap box about this. It's a very emotional issue for me.

[darkhorseman.livejournal.com]

This is absolutly correct and because horse slaughter is still an overall grey area regardless there arnt too many rules regulating it as it is in the cattle industry. The horses are accually treated worse than cattle are. Ive seen the pictures heard the storys, etc. The experience is nightmareish